Harvest Report 2002 – Tree Fruit Cherry In February 2002 and again in March, the weight of heavy snowfalls seriously damaged the net cage structure in both the Gisela rootstock plot and the older variety trial plot, breaking some of the posts and heaving others out of the ground. Some injury also occurred to the trees, and subsequent disease infection caused a few to be removed. Repair and re-setting of the posts and wires in the Gisela plot was done in April. The old variety plot was scheduled for eventual removal. Since there was not enough funds available to cover the labor cost of replacing the net cage in the old variety plot, the trees were removed in April–May 2002. Bloom data was recorded in April and May, with bloom approximately 10–14 days later than in 2001. Cold wet weather at bloom time resulted in a poorer set in many cherry varieties, compared with 2001. In 2002 most cherry varieties produced adequate quantities of fruit for harvest. Observations were made of fruit set, cracking, and fruit quality for all varieties on trial. Several numbered selections also produced fruit and preliminary evaluations were recorded. Sweet cherries (dark flesh) All of the varieties in the trial had reduced yields in 2002 compared with the previous season, and some trees had noticeable disease infection. The crop load was still very acceptable for most varieties. Early Burlat is the first variety to ripen in season. However, since it ripens much earlier (approximately 3 weeks ahead of any other variety in this plot), it has to be netted separately. Cropping this year was light. Bing, the standard for high quality, is susceptible to cracking due to its crisp firm flesh, and it was moderately productive this year. Black Gold (NY 13791) and Hartland ripen midseason at about the same time, and yield well on Gisela 5. In the late season Lapins and Sweetheart are both self-fruitful. Lapins on Gisela 5 rootstock has consistently produced good yields of fruit. Sweetheart ripens about a week later and the trees on Gisela 6 appear weak and less productive. It may do better on Gisela 5 or Gisela 1. Sweet cherries (white flesh) Several white-fleshed sweet cherries have been tested here over the years. Rainier is considered a prime quality variety. The productivity on Gisela 5 rootstock is good in most years. White Gold (NY 13688) is a new introduction from Geneva that has been productive on Gisela 5. Sour (pie) cherries Sour cherries generally bloom and fruit later than sweet cherries, are softer and more resistant to cracking, and to diseases like bacterial canker. Montmorency is the standard for pie cherries. Surefire is a new tart pie cherry with dark red juice (unlike Montmorency which has clear juice), very attractive when used for jam and pie. Young trees of Surefire produced a relatively good crop in 2002 and look very promising. New: Varieties added in 2000 that are not yet fruiting include Almaden Duke, Balaton, Coe's Transparent, Governor Wood, Sonata, Tehranivee and Vandalay. Apricot The 2002 season, like 2001 and 2000, saw a poor crop for apricots at Mount Vernon. Conditions at bloom time were cold and wet. No apricot variety we have tested has shown any commercial potential because of lack of productivity. Even varieties such as Puget Gold and Harglow failed to produce a crop this year. Patterson and Westley produced a little fruit, but most others had nothing. Some new apricot varieties, and trees of current varieties grafted on dwarfing Citation rootstock, were planted in winter 2001-spring 2002. We continue to look for new apricot varieties that might have better potential. New: Varieties planted in 2002 include NY 525, NY 535, NY 544, NY 590, NY 592, NY 593, NY 595, NY 601, NY 605, NY 609, NY 612, NJA 43, NJA 82, NJA 97, NJA 105, Harogem and Jerseycot. Most are on Citation rootstock, which produces a more dwarfing tree and may improve productivity when trees begin to bear. Peach In 2002 the conditions for pollination of peaches were very poor and fruit set was low in all varieties. Even the usually productive varieties yielded poorly in many cases. Again, we are looking for consistent productivity as well as quality, and are removing varieties and selections that have not measured up. New material from various breeding programs was planted into a new stone fruit block south of the blueberries in spring 2002. Some of this material includes so-called "crisp flesh" peaches, and other new selections with fruit characteristics that may be very interesting. We look forward to seeing sample fruit from this plot in 2003. In the early season Harrow Dawn, ripe in early August, had some fruit but much less than usual. Most of the introductions in the Flamin Fury series (developed by a private breeding program in Michigan), did not perform well in 2002 and are on the list for discard. One of the better ones, which is worth trial as an early season peach, is PF 5B. Saturn, a flat "peen-tao" type peach with white, very sweet flesh is of high quality but did not yield much fruit this year. In early-midseason, mature trees of Harbelle, Harken, and Redhaven provided a limited amount of fruit for harvest days. Starfire, about two weeks after Redhaven, was much less productive than usual. Harrow Fair also had some fruit on young, small trees. Late in the season, at the end of August, another Flaming Fury series, PF 17, did produce some good fruit and seems worth further trial. Harrow Beauty set some fruit on young trees. Of the Harrow peach selections currently on trial, HW 272 is usually productive, though set this year was poor, and the yellow fleshed fruit is high quality. New: A number of new peaches were planted in spring 2002, many from the breeding programs in New Jersey and Byron, Georgia.. They include yellow fleshed selections H14-126, D91-184 and D101-162, white fleshed selections NJ 318, D88-1, D80-8 and D88-147. Also there are selections of the "stony hard" type: K40-34 and H28-20 (yellow) and H11-64, H11-73, H13-98, J19-28 and L7-176 (white). A peen-tao type peach, K22-38, was also included. Named varieties added this year include Bicentennial, Contender, Early Loring, Early Redhaven, Fireprince, GaLa, Junegold, Juneprince, Roseprincess, Springprince, Sunbright, Sunland, Sunprince, Sunsplash, Vedoka. and Vivid. We look forward to seeing their performance in 2003. Nectarine Bloom conditions for the nectarines were the same as for the peaches, and fruit set in most varieties was very poor. The exception was Hardired, a yellow fleshed nectarine ripe about 10–15 days after Redhaven, which set a fair amount of fruit, although there was some cracking. At present it is the only variety that is a reliable producer from year to year. The white fleshed variety Crystal Rose had some fruit but its future is doubtful if yields do not improve. New: The new stone fruit block planted in spring 2002 includes several nectarine varieties and selections. Named varieties are Early Scarlet and Sunglo. Trial selections include B8-11-45 and K54-17 (yellow) and K54-25 and K56-4 (white.) Plum Poor weather conditions in the early bloom season of 2002 adversely affected a few of the early blooming varieties. Beauty had no fruit and Methley had comparatively little. However, the rest of the early plums produced a fair crop, and the later varieties were very fruitful. Early Laxton and Hollywood had somewhat smaller crops than usual. Obilnaja, from eastern Europe, produced a good yield flavorful fruit, small to medium in size. Imperial Epineuse, Victory and Seneca are all proving to be reliable productive varieties with high quality fruit. Queen Victoria, a classic English variety ripe in mid season, produced a very heavy crop in 2002. Trees fruiting for the first time in 2002 included 2P (Raintree), with smallish very dark red fruit, red flesh and good flavor, ripe at the end of August. Also ripe at that time is Purple Gage, which set a good crop of fruit, purple-blue in color with greenish yellow flesh, rather small but very sweet and juicy. Ripe in mid September, Tabarza did not set heavily, and fruit was quite small, sweet but with a distinctive flavor perhaps not to everyone's taste. All will be further evaluated in 2003. Numbered selections from Geneva, New York are in process of evaluation. NY 101 (NY 77.610.1) is a pink blushed gage type, very sweet and flavorful. Fruits ripen over about a 3-week period. New: A number of new plum varieties and selections, as well as a few old standards, were added in a new stone fruit block in 2002. They include Battema, Blackruby, Byrongold, Earli Magic, Moldavian, Mount Royal, Ovishiwase, Reine de Mirabelle, Rubysweet, Shiro, Vanette, Vanier and Vision. New selections from the Geneva, NY breeding program are NY 1456, PP 6975-2, PP 7520-1 and PP 7520-3. Pear Bloom and fruit set were abundant on pears in 2002. Early ripening varieties did well this year. They are best used within 2–4 weeks of harvest. Bella de Guigno and Ubileen ripen well on the tree but develop internal browning if left too long. Harrow Delight will keep a bit longer to about 6 weeks. All the above varieties are very productive. The Bosc pear trial is concluding this year. Yields for Starkrimson, Bosc, Concorde and Conference were very good though not as high as in 2001. Trees of Comice in the test plot produced yields comparable to their best, and other Comice trees were very productive also.